Whenever you're looking to impress investors, understand that an idea is worthless. Unless you're Zuckerberg, you're going to need more than an idea. You're going to need proof.

Early on we started funding conversations with just a concept.  Nothing.  Then we went out with a proof of concept.  Nothing.   

In hindsight, we were having those conversations way too early. We didn't have a finished product yet. So we did what we needed to do: we shut up, put our heads down, and worked. For the past three months, that's all we've been doing. 

Investors like proof-of-concepts. But what we're realizing is investors love being able to ask if it works, and getting the answer, "Yes. We have alpha customers X, Y and Z willing to talk with you about it." You may have a problem you think you're solving, but until you have other people saying it, no one believes it.

Shut up. Put your head down. Work. The difference you see in your product, with potential investors, and customers will be staggering.

Foursquare launched in 2009 at SXSW.  Quite a few people downloaded it but many of us weren't connected so the appeal was pretty limited.  In 2010 they had grown quite a bit and SXSW was an event that showed the power of Foursquare.  That was a fun year because I ended up with the agency sub-culture since I was hanging out with my friend Matt Trego (who is currently working on our new branding and website we will launch soon!).  Foursquare was getting traction but this was before they were on the cover of every magazine.  They had some funds so they did some cool things and threw some parties where there were only ~100 people there so the entire Foursquare team was there, which gave us a chance to chat with them quite a bit.  

Foursquare has done well and they continue to grow but for every Foursquare there are 100's more that don't do so well.  As I was packing I came across an item in my junk drawer from SXSW 2010 (actual pic from last week).

This is from a company called Stickybits.  The idea was that you put these little bar codes on things, scan them with your phone and it took you places on the web the end user could dictate.  For some reason I remember them well.  They were running around with bright red t-shirts on with their logo and one of the guys had a huge mop of blond curly hair.  They also had a table set up at the Foursquare party, which is where I had a chance to chat with them a bit.  I don't remember what I did 10 minutes ago but for some reason I remember that?  Go figure.  

The other thing I remember about them is thinking - this idea will never fly.  Being an entrepreneur you spend a lot of time with other entrepreneurs.  There are some companies you look and and you just can't see the long term potential.  Stickybits was one of those companies for me.

Fast forward to 2012 and these guys have massively pivoted to be one of my favorite sites on the internet.  Somewhere along the way they realized that Stickybits was not all that sticky and they needed to do something else with the money that they raised.  What they came up with was Turntable.fm.  This is a music site where people go into a virtual room and take turns DJing their favorite music.  I discover a ton of great music that you would never hear on the radio.

Turntable.fm been an interesting site to watch because of some of the social dynamics that go on, but more interesting to me is their pivot.  I don't know these guys but I would love to talk to them about their experience.  Most startups pivot at some point.  I was having coffee with a friend the other day who is the CEO of a company that has pivoted two times since we last chatted 6 months ago. 

Luckily we have not had to pivot to this point.  We took a ton of time before we started this company validating the market and the problem.  Nitin spent 5 years doing PhD research discovering a significant hole in the actual science behind how social networks work and he filled that gap.  Most people walk away really excited about what we are doing after we have a chance to speak with them, but there is no telling what tomorrow brings. 

The reason I am writing this is the pivot is an interesting reality that most startups have to face.  Some are big and some are small, but how do you know when it is time to face that reality?  As entrepreneurs, we are passionate about what we are doing.  We believe we can change the world.  We are also very close to the problem and our solution.  We have never lost a bit of conviction that we are onto something that can change the way people and businesses use social networks, but I have thought a lot about how do you make sure you have a dose of reality when needed?

One lesson I've learned is you have to surround yourself with the best team, advisors and friends that you can who can give you an objective look at your business.  You listen objectively but don't let you conviction waiver unnecessarily.  That is the only way people have ever created amazing products, companies and experience that have an impact. 

Have you had to pivot?  What was your experience like?  I would really love to hear from you.

Going into SXSW this year all the buzz is about Highlight.  It is a new app that when one of your friends gets close enough to you it notifies you that they are within 50ft of you.  Should be interesting to play with.  It starts to push the envelope on the information we share and where consumer social apps go next.  Many people are calling it the winner of SXSW already - like Robert Scoble.  This event can be big for startups - Twitter (2007) and Foursquare (2009).  For others it can be a big moment in time that is quickly forgotten - Groupme (2011) and Hashable (2011).

I saw Highlight being talked about a few months back but it was still in private beta.  Leading up to SXSW they have released the app publicly.  So I downloaded and set it up.  I haven't been near anyone yet so I haven't really seen how it works.  

They have one MAJOR issue going into SXSW.  The best I can tell it sucks the battery out of your phone.  I am running out of battery in less than 5 hours.  Battery life at SXSW is hard enough given all the tweeting, checking in and general activity.  If it is a battery hog I will check it out briefly and then remove it.  I have too many other things I need to do with my phone.  There is a fix on the way according to Scoble but if not this would be a major whiff at their shot to gain a ton of traction.  

Being lean is great until the impact of your mistakes become too large for a particular moment that is dangerously difficult to recover from.  I hope they have a fix out this week because I am excited to see what they have built.  Lesson for me in our startup is learn quickly and mistakes are fine until you are at a critical inflection point then you need to make sure you get it right.  

Recently there has been a number of posts about who owns an employee's Twitter followers.  This was sparked by a recent case where PhoneDog.com sued Noah Kravitz for his Twitter followers after he quit.   There have been a number of stories written on it.

NY Times - A Dispute Over Who Owns A Twitter Account

Mashable  - Meet the Write Being Sued For His 17,000 Twitter Followers 

Social Media Today - Why Owning Your Employee's Twitter Followers Is Foolish 

This just shows how much companies still don't get it.  It is not about followers.  What matters in social is relationships.  No matter how much a company wants your followers the reason that the other person is following is because of the relationship.  If a brand can replicate this exactly then no problem but that is highly unlikely especially when the Twitter account represents a person and not a brand. 

This is why brands must take a team approach to social media.  It is not just about the brand account but also the team that you have officially representing the brand in social channels.  There are many roles to play and as I have talked about in the past - people want to build relationships with people not brands.  

So PLEASE focus on relationships and not followers.  Followers just mean that for now they allow you to be in your stream but if your followers are not responding to you (reply, RT or click) then you are just part of the noise.  Relationships lead to the ability to achieve business objectives in social by getting your message heard and reacted to by utilizing the foundation of social networks.

Here is the Slide Share that I refer to in the post.